Pig Latin is a secret language used by children and adults to speak in private. It involves moving consonants before the first vowel to the end of the word and adding “ay” or other variations. Some words have even passed into English, such as “ixnay.”
Pig Latin is a codified way of speaking, based on English and used mainly by children who think or believe that this system allows them to speak without being understood by others. It is known that even parents whose children do not know pig Latin use it to speak “in private” in the presence of their children. The reference to Latin could simply be due to the fact that using this pseudolanguage has the same feeling and the same effects as speaking another language in terms of secrecy, or because of the sound of the language.
There are different methods or sets of rules for creating pig latin and while there are some elements that are pretty standard across the various versions, other elements may differ. Capitalization is generally used, as in English, for the first letter of sentences, the first letter of proper nouns, and other words that are usually capitalized. The use of the ay sound and letters is fairly consistent, but not universal. Note that more distant variants use other vowel sounds and may add a vowel sound after each syllable rather than after each word. Whether or not to use dashes before material added at the end is another issue on which practitioners differ – since Pork Latin is primarily a spoken language, it doesn’t always come across.
The rules by which words are actually changed is another matter where some elements are quite universal, while other elements differ. It seems to be generally agreed that words beginning with a consonant, or consonant blend or digraph, have all consonants before the first vowel moved to the end of the word, followed by ay. Also, when a word begins with qu, the u is moved along with the q.
EnglishPig Latinlanguagelanguage-laywriteite-wray quoteote-quay
The differences between the different versions often focus on how words starting with a vowel are handled. While it is agreed that something is added at the end, there are differences of opinion as to what it should be. Some options are:
1. Simply add ay to the end of any word that starts with a vowel.
EnglishPig Latinenormousenormous-ay
2. Add ay to the end of every word starting with a vowel, preceded by a specified consonant, forming hay, way or yay.
EnglishPig Latinenormousenormous-hayenormousenormous-wayenormousenormous-yay
Interestingly, as the Latin pig has been passed down from generation to generation, some words have passed into English, most notably ixnay for nix, which means “no.” Today, it may be better known among some people for being one of the languages — along with “Elmer Fudd,” “Hacker,” “Klingon,” and “Bork, bork, bork!” — which you can choose in the Google language interface.
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